The Coming of the Third Reich

The Coming of the Third Reich is a work of historical nonfiction intended for a popular audience. This contrasts with other histories, which may be intended for academic audiences. Specifically, in his preface, Richard J. Evans writes that The Coming of the Third Reich is intended to address a lack of “broad, general, large-scale histories of Nazi Germany that have been written for a general audience” (xvi). Evans argues that previous historical works on Nazi Germany were either narrowly focused on one subject area, like political and diplomatic history, or written for an academic audience.

In many ways, The Coming of the Third Reich is written like historian Ian Kershaw’s two-volume biography, Hitler. Like that biography, The Coming of the Third Reich tries to bridge “the gap” (xvii) between academic and popular history. Like Kershaw, Evans emphasizes the role of social, cultural, and economic forces, as well as institutional development and structure, over the influence of individual historical figures—including Adolf Hitler. Still, Evans sees himself as taking a broader and more comprehensive approach than Kershaw and other historians of Nazi Germany. Specifically, Evans argues that his approach stands out from previous contributions on the history of Nazism because The Coming of the Third Reich covers “not only politics, diplomacy and military affairs but also society, the economy, racial policy, police and justice, literature, culture and the arts” (xviii).